Page 211 of The Throne Seeker
She rolled her eyes. “He’s only teasing. He won’t do it again,” she emphasized pointedly at Onyx.
Xavier didn’t look so sure, but to his credit, he reached out again.
This time, Onyx allowed it.
Xavier’s rigid body relaxed as he admired the beast. “So he stays with you? Willingly?”
“Yes. For some reason or another, he thinks he owes me for saving his life.”
That’s because I do,Onyx said,and I suppose I’ve grown fond of your two-legged awkwardness.
She smiled again.
“How’d you manage that?” Xavier asked. The curiosity in his gaze brought back memories of when he got a telescope for his twelfth birthday. It warmed her to see a glimpse of his old self.
“It’s a long story,” she replied.
He observed her again, his eyes stopping on the handcrafted sword on her back. “Where’d you get the sword?”
She glanced over her shoulder at the hilt. “Zareb gave it to me.”
His eyes sparked with intrigue. “The soldier from Semaria? Why would he do that?”
“He trained me with it. We grew to be close friends, he and I.” Her voice was strained—the sting of Zareb’s absence still fresh.
Xavier didn’t say anything for a moment, his eyes remaining on the sword, then they met hers. “You any good?” A slight tug raised the corner of his lips.
She blinked, staring at the smile. She fumbled for words, surprised by his playfulness. “Test me, and you might just find out.”
Xavier’s mouth widened to a full smile. “Always the smart-ass.”
She stared in shock. She hadn’t seen that enchanted sight inyears. Her heart pulsed; she was relieved to see he remembered how to use the muscles.
“It’s good to see you smile,” she said softly, lifting her gaze from his lips to his eyes.
“To tell you the honest truth, I thought I forgot how…” He glanced to the open stable doors. “Were you really going to charge into the night to find me?”
She shifted her weight to lean against the wooden pen. “I was considering it, for your mother’s sake.”
He frowned. “You doubted I’d come?”
“We were beginning to wonder… You do have a habit of running,” she added, her voice harboring bitterness.
Xavier’s mouth tightened into a thin line. “I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, but I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to say goodbye to her. Even if it does mean I have to share the same air as my brother.”
It wasn’t hard to discern the malice in his tone. This was getting ridiculous. “Don’t you think this feud has gone on long enough? I don’t know what happened between you two, but?—”
“That’s right. You don’t,” he said, his voice as cold as winter snow.
Rose dropped the subject. Her eyes shifted away, pressing her lips together to avoid snapping back. He respected her not wanting to elaborate on how she was a siren, so she would respect his boundaries, too.
He cleared his throat, folding his arms tightly across his chest as he shifted uncomfortably. An icy steel wall formed in his eyes. “By the way, I never got to say congratulations.”
Her head tilted, confused. “Congratulations?”
“On the wedding,” he said, obviously. “I couldn’t make it, of course—being exiled and all. Not that I would have come anyway.”
Her mind ran in circles, trying to decipher what he meant. “What?”
